Twenty Five Lusk, San Francisco

The Look: Located in a 1917 smokehouse in the city’s South of Market district, this expansive two-story spot was designed by local architect Cass Calder Smith. Retaining the original structure’s timber beams and exposed brick walls, Smith introduced contemporary elements such as oblong-shaped, stainless-steel “fire orbs” that are suspended from the 20-foot ceilings and sleek, cantilevered Macassar ebony tables.

The Food: Chef Matthew Dolan’s New American menus exploit Bay Area bounty in dishes like grilled Louisiana prawns with Japanese-pepper grits and yellowtail sashimi with salmon caviar and horseradish sorbet.

Tori Tori, Mexico City

The Look: Gutting a house in the Mexican capital’s residential Polanco district, local firms Rojkind Arquitectos and Esrawe Studios transformed the three-story structure into a glowing, futuristic cube of contemporary design. A fishnetlike skin of precision-cut steel encases the restaurant’s glass walls, while the striking geometric interior features floating entry staircases and a tea lounge that’s lined in boldly grained wood and has a lush vertical garden at one end.

The Food: This new branch of Katsumi Kumoto Kawasaki’s beloved Japanese restaurant focuses on traditional sushi and sashimi cut from the freshest seafood and features an extensive sake menu.

Brushstroke, New York

The Look: When David Bouley closed Secession and decided to makeover the Tribeca space as a Japanese kaiseki restaurant, he hired the hip Japanese design firm Super Potato to mastermind the refit. Featuring natural stone, reclaimed timber, and salvaged steel, the restaurant finds its focal point in the bar area, where a wall fashioned from 25,000 irregularly stacked books, pages facing outward, gives the impression of richly textured wood parquet.

The Food: Brushstroke is a partnership between Bouley and the Tsuji Culinary Institute of Osaka, with chef Isao Yamada, a Tsuji alumnus, overseeing the eight- or ten-course seasonal menus. The offerings change monthly, but there are a few recurring items, such as the beloved steamed chawan-mushi—egg custard with black truffle sauce and king crab.

OZONE, Hong Kong

The Look: On the top floor of the 118-story International Commerce Center—making it the world’s highest bar—this spot at the Ritz Carlton also commands attention for its futuristic-luxe interiors by Masamichi Katayama’s Tokyo design firm, Wonderwall. Multifaceted marble surfaces abound, and crystal drips from the ceilings, while the terrace provides the city’s best views over Victoria Harbor.

The Food: Though OZONE is more bar than restaurant, the large menu ranges from oysters and sushi to tapas-style small plates like tempuras and Wagyu beef rolls with enoki mushrooms and foie gras.

Pump Room, Chicago

The Look: The design firm Yabu Pushelberg teamed up with hotelier Ian Schrager to reinvent this clubby 1938 icon, located within Schrager’s new PUBLIC hotel. They paired smart nods to the past (round, leather-covered oak banquettes, vintage photos of former guests like Sinatra) with decidedly contemporary touches. Milan-based Dimore Studio created the centerpiece floor-to-ceiling light installation, consisting of 500 glowing cast-resin orbs.

The Food: Jean-Georges Vongerichten is behind the menu, which includes adaptations of farm-to-table dishes from his New York spot ABC Kitchen as well as updates of Pump Room classics, such as chicken liver toasts and Wiener schnitzel with arugula and sweet potatoes.

Bama LOHAS Café, Tokyo

The Look: For this intimate space in the middle of bustling Ginza, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma drew inspiration from the Chinese village of Bama, a place known for the longevity of its residents. Combining clean-lined traditional furnishings with natural accents such as light fixtures made with dried corn husks (used by locals in their native dress), Kuma created a contemporary interpretation of Bama’s rustic aesthetic.

The Food: The café’s cuisine also comes from Bama, where hemp is a common component of the healthful diet. The menu, featuring hemp tofu, hemp pickles, and a number of dishes dressed with hemp oil, meshes with the slow-living concept of LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) popularized by the Japanese magazine Sotokoto, whose publisher owns the restaurant.

Unik, Buenos Aires

The Look: Something of a design gallery as well as a restaurant, this Palermo district hot spot is decorated with 100-plus pieces of midcentury and contemporary furniture from the collection of architect-owner Marcelo Joulia. Designs by Arne Jacobson, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Ron Arad, and Frank Gehry, among others, are artfully arranged in the former industrial workshop located beneath Joulia’s studio.

The Food: Conceived by Mauro Colagreco, Argentina’s only chef with two Michelin stars, Unik’s small menu uses sustainably grown produce to create unique takes on classic local fare, including slowly cooked Patagonian leg of lamb served with cumin-spiced quinoa.

Radio, Copenhagen

The Look: Located across the street from the former headquarters of Denmark’s national radio station (hence its name), this rustic-modern space was created by the young Danish design firm HolmbäckNordentoft and graphic designer Christina Meyer Bengtsson, the wife of owner Claus Meyer. Reflecting the kitchen’s close-to-nature ethos, they made handsome use of well-weathered salvaged wood, offset by contemporary lighting and furniture, including sleek black bentwood chairs by Tom Dixon.

The Food: Meyer helped launch Noma, the renowned Copenhagen restaurant where chef René Redzepi invented new Nordic cuisine, and Radio has adopted a similar focus on the seasonal and local with dishes such as goat with glazed cabbage and wild garlic and a dessert with beetroot, malt, and ice cream.

Sur Mesure, Paris

The Look: Conceived by design partners Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku as an ode to haute couture, the white-on-white space at the Mandarin Oriental hotel plays with layers of draped fabric (installed by artist Heidi Winge Ström) to create an intimate culinary cocoon—and the perfect blank canvas for chef Thierry Marx’s avant-garde innovations.

The Food: Just seven months after opening, Marx received two Michelin stars. His multicourse tasting menus reflect French and Asian influences, with signature dishes like shellfish mousse and caviar crostini.

Isa, Brooklyn, New York

The Look: Two years in the making, architect-cum-restaurateur Taavo Somer’s new Williamsburg spot exudes a welcoming vibe he calls “primitive modernism.” It’s a clean-lined rusticity, with whitewashed brick walls, terra-cotta floors, and lots of timber, including exposed beams, Somer’s own hand-built furniture, and stacks of logs ready for the wood-fired oven.

8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA, Shanghai

The Look: Japanese designer Yamagiwa Jumpei’s masculine, Deco-tinged vision for the restaurant—located on the sixth floor of a restored 1923 building on the Bund—features a ceiling covered with multifaceted polished-steel panels, floor-to-ceiling window walls that maximize the skyline views, and a central glass aging room that elegantly displays wines, cheeses, and cured meats.

The Food: Chef Umberto Bombana—whose original Otto e Mezzo in Hong Kong is the only Italian restaurant outside Italy with three Michelin stars—emphasizes bold Mediterranean flavors, especially the white truffles for which he’s particularly known.